Nicky's life after TV 'I'M NOT GOING TO BE INVISIBLE!'

The former AM newsreader can't wait for her exciting next chapter

- Fleur Guthrie

Nicky Styris may well be the only nana spotted wearing a bright red bikini when she takes her granddaughter Mila to a local pool for toddler swimming lessons.

At 58, the sports journalist and former AM newsreader is a cool granny — even if it's a role that she's still getting her “head around”.

Others had told her about the “magical” love you have for a grandchild - a different kind from the one you have for your own children - but she wondered if it was true. Turns out, it is.

“The amount of love I've felt has definitely been a surprise,” tells Nicky, chatting to the Weekly with eldest daughter Hannah Gosney, 31, and tickling gorgeous grandson Finn’s feet as he gives gummy smiles from his bouncer.

“I thought, ‘Yeah, yeah, people say that,’ but they’re actually right. I didn’t think I could feel any more love than I did for the birth of my own children, yet becoming a grandparent has been the most amazing, special time.

“I’m not a particularly maternal person. But these ones...” she says, looking over at Finn and Mila, “can do no wrong. I'm in love with them!”

Nicky has realised the sheer pleasure of arriving somewhere to have a little face light up or scream out “Nanaaaa!”

She and her husband, former Black Caps allrounder Scott Styris, 49, often pop around to Hannah and partner Tom Herman’s house at the “arsenic hour” of 5pm to help out or in the weekend for park visits.

Two-and-a-half-year-old Mila is described as an energetic “firecracker” (at our photoshoot, she pretended to be the photographer), while wee five-month-old Finn is a placid “chiller”.

“Mila is very loving towards me and Scott, who she calls ‘Dot’,” she laughs. “In fact, she loves him too much sometimes for my liking. He might be her favourite!